Kentucky Downs offers quartet of rich closing-day stakes
One last batch of inflated purses will be up for grabs Saturday at Kentucky Downs, where a five-day meet ends with four stakes on a 13-race card at the turf-only track in south-central Kentucky.
The stakes are worth a potential total of $950,000, including bonuses from the Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund, while three allowances (purse minimum, $125,000) and three $120,000 maiden special weight races also are on a program that starts at 12:05 p.m. Central, 90 minutes earlier than customary.
The final two Kentucky Downs programs were expanded from 10 races to 13 to accommodate makeup races from the Sept. 10 card lost to too-soft ground.
In reverse order, here is a quick rundown of the four Saturday stakes:
◗ $200,000 Dueling Grounds Oaks (race 11, post 5:05): Mark Casse, whose far-flung stable won three races Monday at Kentucky Downs, has a top contender in this 1 5/16-mile (once-around) race in Return to Grace, a Calumet Farm filly beaten just a nose last month in the Grade 3 Pucker Up on the Arlington Park turf.
An oversubscribed field of 3-year-old fillies (field limit is 12) is entered, with Dating Lady Luck, Heath, and Miss Double d’Oro among those likely to draw attention in a very well-matched group.
◗ $300,000 Kentucky Downs Ladies Marathon (race 10, 4:35): Honey Lake and Dido will clash again following a respective one-two finish in the Aug. 21 CTT/TOC Handicap at Del Mar when facing six other fillies and mares in this 1 5/16-mile race. Courtesan, the winner of an overnight stakes at Churchill Downs in the spring, also will be in from New York for Christophe Clement.
◗ $300,000 Kentucky Downs Ladies Turf (race 7, 3:05): I’m Already Sexy, the defending winner in this one-mile race, will have Julien Leparoux aboard when facing a stern challenge amid a very contentious group of 11 fillies and mares. Sunset Glow, Kiss Moon, and Lori’s Store are other notables in one of many terrific wagering events on the card.
◗ $150,000 One Dreamer (race 6, 2:35): Kitten’s Dumplings, seeking her first victory since the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup nearly two years ago, is the lukewarm morning-line favorite in a deep group of fillies and mares entered in this mile-and-70-yard race.
The One Dreamer, named for the Glen Hill Farm mare who won the 1993 Rachel Jackson at Kentucky Downs (then Dueling Grounds) well before her 1994 Breeders’ Cup Distaff upset, was canceled Sept. 10 when originally split into two divisions with 25 entries.